Legislators hesitant on sanctuary state bill

Wednesday

Mar 15, 2017 at 7:32 PMMar 16, 2017 at 9:11 AM

Zachary Comeau Daily News Staff @zwcomeau

Several organizations are throwing their support behind a bill that would make Massachusetts a so-called sanctuary state, including most area Democrats, but some in the Milford area have yet to sign their support.

Brian Murray, D-Milford, is one local Democrat who has yet to support the Safe Communities Act, a bill sponsored by Sen. James Eldridge, D-Acton, that would essentially make Massachusetts a sanctuary state, though supporters are hesitant to use that label.

“I think the bill itself needs a little bit more work,” Murray said, calling into question the difficulty in delineating where local cooperation with federal immigration authorities starts and stops.

The bill, which has not yet been assigned a hearing date with the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, would do a number of things: it prohibits agreements with the Department of Homeland Security that deputizes local law enforcement as immigration agents, prevents the use of local police resources to enforce immigration law, ensures basic due process rights for people detained via civil immigration warrants and prohibits access to state database information for use in any federal registry program based on national origin or religion.

Under the bill, local and state police would be prohibited from detaining a person based solely on the presence of a civil immigration detainer request.

In Milford, police respond to ICE detainer requests in what Murray called a “very good working relationship” with the agency that sees the police department, for only very serious matters, contacting ICE when an undocumented immigrant is charged with a serious offense.

They did so for Nicolas Guaman, the undocumented immigrant convicted in the 2011 drunk driving death of Matthew Denice. In most circumstances, ICE would contact local police if someone in local custody is wanted by the agency.

The bill, Murray said, “would call that into question.”

“That’s not something I was prepared to do,” he said.

Murray did, however, support language in the bill that would prevent local law enforcement from enforcing immigration law, citing policy and rhetoric out of Washington.

“If the administration is talking about (deputizing local police for immigration enforcement), to me, that’s something totally devoid of the law,” he said, citing Supreme Court cases.

Unknowingly, Murray echoed the comments of Gov. Charlie Baker, who said local policy should be left up to cities and towns. Baker also told the Daily News that he would veto the bill if passed.

“I don’t think we’d be talking about this if the FBI had warrants for federal kidnapping charges,” Murray said. “I don’t think we ought to treat ICE any differently.”

Rep. Jeff Roy, D-Franklin, echoed Murray's comments and philosophy.

Roy did say he wouldn’t support any Washington policies that promote discrimination “in any way, shape or manner,” but questioned the blanket policy that would come if the law is passed.

“I think that’s the beauty of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” he said. “There are 351 communities and they can decide for themselves on these types of matters.”

Sen. Ryan Fattman, R-Sutton, agreed with the Milford-area democrats, but went a step further saying the law would not only risk federal funding, but would sacrifice public safety after President Donald Trump has threatened to cut federal funding to sanctuary cities and states.

"It's a proposal that undermines the law, undermines law enforcement, and I intend to fight it," he said.

Other organizations throughout the state are also supporting the bill, including the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Friends Service Committee of Western Mass., which has gathered more than 5,500 signatures on an online petition supporting the bill in just over a week.

Jack Lewis, D-Framingham, elected as a freshman legislator along with Murray last fall, said the legislation is a priority among progressive Democrats in the state. He’s signed onto the bill and called himself one of the lead co-sponsors of the bill.

“I can say that many of my colleagues understand the great need for the Act, especially in this political climate where people are afraid to go to work, go to school and go to the supermarket,” Lewis said.

Although local police have said there’s no evidence of this, Lewis said stories of ICE activities in the area increasing are causing fear in the local community.

“I believe this is more necessary today than other things due to the rapid implementation of many of Trump’s campaign promises,” he said.

Zachary Comeau can be reached at 508-634-7556 and zcomeau@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZComeau_MDN.